Though moviegoers may have laughed at the onslaught of “Barbenheimer” memes ahead of Barbie and Oppenheimer’s respective late July releases, Japanese-speaking Twitter users were far from amused, frustrated that the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II had devolved into punchlines.
バービー人形の実写映画「#BARBIE」がアメリカなどで公開される
— 滝沢ガレソ (@takigare3) July 31, 2023
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同日“原爆の父”と呼ばれる物理学者の人生を描いた映画「オッペンハイマー」も公開
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アメリカでバービーネタと原爆ネタを融合させた #Barbenheimmer がミーム化
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米バービー公式まで原爆ネタに全乗っかりして炎上@BarbieMovie_jp pic.twitter.com/iakrc5OX1f
“Young people in America have no historical awareness and are rude to other people's feelings,” @PodKatz replied in Japanese to Warner Bros. Japan’s official apology for positively responding to fan-made Barbenheimer memes. “I would like to send my love to the people of Japan and express my resolute anti-war. The suffering experienced by Japan must never be repeated anywhere in the world.”
このようなことが起こって大変申し訳ございません。アメリカの若者は歴史認識がなく、他人の感情に対して失礼です。私は日本の人々に愛を送り、私は断固として反戦であることを表明したいと思います。日本が味わった苦しみは、世界のどこでも二度と繰り返してはなりません。戦争ではなく愛を!❤️ https://t.co/y9D6CdAzxf
— It's Katz (@PodKatz) July 31, 2023
Yet these valiant attempts at making a very reasonable point about treating two incidents that killed thousands of people with somber respect quickly backfired when some decided to fight shitposts with shitposts, an initiative that unintentionally spawned some dankest 9/11 memes known to man.
so there’s people making fun of the Barbie movie account for tweeting about Barbenheimer and as a response they’re making fun of 9/11 and I gotta say it’s pretty hilarious pic.twitter.com/SLDTApByVd
— Tayvin (Vill) (@TCV1ll) August 1, 2023
“What do you think of this image?” angry Barbie fan @Dorothy35091534 captioned a meme depicting one of the twin towers exploding alongside the flick’s sparkly pink poster, one of the several shitposts juxtaposing Barbie and 9/11. “What you are doing is the same as this. Shame on you.”
What do you think of this image? What you are doing is the same as this. shame on you. pic.twitter.com/XsLWPswpvL
— Dorothy (@Dorothy35091534) July 31, 2023
This image, as well as a few others, including one depicting Barbie in her natural habitat, sitting atop Osama bin Laden’s shoulders, quickly went viral on American Twitter as several Yankees pointed out just how much we love making fun of 9/11 here in the States.
This image goes hard as pic.twitter.com/ZgNStTDeFw
— Slee (@MrSleemon) August 1, 2023
“Japanese Twitter is trying to do Oppenheimer-style memes to America without realizing their insatiable perverse hunger for 9/11 jokes,” observed @theserfstv, likening their effort to “firing hamburgers at the Hamburgler [sic].”
Japanese twitter is trying to do Oppenheimer style memes to America without realizing their insatiable perverse hunger for 9/11 jokes.
— The Serfs (@theserfstv) August 2, 2023
It's like firing hamburgers at the Hamburgler pic.twitter.com/OL0yx3XkG9
“I think Americans make fun of it more than anyone else tbh,” noted @NicholasPas5.
Take it from these guys: The only thing more patriotic than seeing a movie about a plastic doll and the nuclear bomb is laughing at 9/11. Sorry, Japan!
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